Official UK procurement notice
003271 - Online Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) application provider
Authority: Durham County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionDCC undertakes DBS checks on all employees in posts identified as requiring a DBS check in accordance with the DBS eligibility criteria; plus DBS checks for carers, fostering, adoption, taxi drivers, volunteers and maintained schools, amongst others. Checks ensure full compliance with recruitment processes, as well as statutory requirements. The Council also operates a rechecking process for employees, currently set at 5 years.
We are seeking to formally procure the services of a DBS umbrella registered body, who will provide an electronic administration platform for the submission of DBS application forms and for the subsequent check results to be visible to users within DCC (E-Bulk System).
We anticipate a requirement to process approximately 5,000 DBS applications per year for the Council. However, it should be noted that the number of applications processed may be subject to fluctuation due to organisational change, renewals required and policy decisions arising from national changes to disclosure and barring eligibility criteria. For avoidance of doubt, the spread of applications will not be uniform across any period.
CPV: Software package and information systems
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Lot 1RenewalPublished value£1,250,000
- Value
- £1,250,000 exc. VAT · £1,500,000 inc. VAT
- Extensions
We anticipate a requirement to process approximately 5,000 DBS applications per year for the Council. However, it should be noted that the number of applications processed may be subject to fluctuation due to organisational change, renewals required and policy decisions arising from national changes to disclosure and barring eligibility criteria. This may lead to an increase in contract value. · The Contract period more…
is for an initial 3-year period, with the option to extend for a further 2 years subject to satisfactory performance and the Council's future requirements.
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published — the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (6)
- Service delivery model and end-to-end DBS processing — 10%
- Advice, guidance and helpdesk support — 5%
- Contract Mobilisation — 5%
- System Demonstration — 10%
- Desirable System Functionality — 5%
- Price - Administration charge per application — 65%
Published award criteria (6)
- Price - Administration charge per application — Please note, the administration charge excludes the statutory DBS certificate fees, however statutory fees are included in the contract value. The administration charge must include all costs for the requirements in the specification. No additional payment will be made in addition to the fixed administration charge per application.
- Technical & professional abilityConfirm that your organisation is an approved DBS umbrella body / registered body authorised to provide e-bulk services and countersignatory services for the types of checks required under this contract.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How Durham County Council buys Software package and information systems (CPV 48) — and who usually turns up
Durham County Council’s own published record, next to the North East England market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Software package and information systems (CPV 48) →
How the contest usually goes
Left: this authority. Right: the market where the work is delivered. Bids and award-vs-estimate pairs are per lot, from contested contracts only — direct awards (including PA 2023 transparency notices) report one bid by definition and are left out. On Procurement Act 2023 notices the count is the tenders assessed at the final stage, not every submission received; pairs compare like with like (VAT-exclusive, or VAT-inclusive on both sides). Empty means nothing was published, not filled in from elsewhere.
Durham County Council
contract notices in 36 months: 24 in division 48 (1 without competition · 15 route not published) · 159 in all categories (24 without competition · 42 route not published)
i
How many companies usually bid for work like this.
Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 6 lots. 3 lots are from Procurement Act 2023 notices (bids assessed, middle 2) and 3 from older notices (bids received, middle 3).
Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.
i
How often only one company bid.
Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 6 lots.
High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.
i
Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.
Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 4 pairs.
A past pattern, not a price to bid.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 3 notices.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
i
How often this buyer changes a notice after publishing it.
Middle number of amendments per notice. Deadline extensions and corrections both count.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 24 months: 404 notices.
i
How often this buyer awards without a competition.
Direct or limited awards as a share of its notices that say which procedure was used. These routes are legal in defined cases. This is just the record.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 9 notices.
North East England · Software package and information systems (CPV 48)
contract notices delivered in North East England in 36 months: 407 in division 48 (159 competed, 101 route not published)
i
How many companies usually bid for work like this.
Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 68 lots. 40 lots are from Procurement Act 2023 notices (bids assessed, middle 3) and 28 from older notices (bids received, middle 4).
Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.
i
How often only one company bid.
Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.
Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 68 lots.
High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.
i
Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.
Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 37 pairs.
A past pattern, not a price to bid.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 50 notices.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
i
How much of this market goes to small and medium firms.
SME bidders where buyers published the split, otherwise SME winners.
Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 50 lots.
i
How much work like this goes to companies based in the delivery region.
Awards in this category delivered here where the winner’s registered address is in the region.
Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 175 awards.
Registered address, so a national firm with a local branch counts as outside.
i
Where this tender’s estimate would land if the usual pattern repeats.
We apply the buyer’s usual movement between estimate and award (or the region’s) to the estimate on this notice.
Based on 4 lots, so only the direction is shown, not a pound figure.
A benchmark, not a price to bid.
Who you are likely to meet i
Who you may be up against.
Suppliers on this buyer’s earlier similar contracts, and suppliers whose record fits this tender.
A guess from the record. Buyers do not publish who is bidding.
i
Who you may be up against.
Suppliers on this buyer’s earlier similar contracts, and suppliers whose record fits this tender.
A guess from the record. Buyers do not publish who is bidding.
Suppliers on this authority’s earlier similar contracts, then suppliers with a matching track record — from published award history, not a bid list
Suppliers with a similar track record — and how they price i
Suppliers with a similar track record, and how they price.
Suppliers matched on wins in this category, history with this buyer, location and size. Their award vs estimate is from their own past wins.
A guess from the record, not a bidder list.
i
Suppliers with a similar track record, and how they price.
Suppliers matched on wins in this category, history with this buyer, location and size. Their award vs estimate is from their own past wins.
A guess from the record, not a bidder list.
| Supplier | Evidence | Last award | Their award vs estimate | Relevance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unite Procurement Uk Ltd Large | 1 class wins · 34 lots for this buyer | this month | no comparable pairs | 54% |
| CIVICA UK LIMITED | 50 class wins · 4 lots for this buyer | this month | no comparable pairs | 52% |
| NEC SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS UK LIMITED Large | 29 class wins · 2 lots for this buyer | 1 months ago | no comparable pairs | 51% |
| CONCERTO SUPPORT SERVICES LIMITED | 6 class wins | this month | no comparable pairs | 51% |
| ACCESS UK LTD | 25 class wins · 3 lots for this buyer | this month | no comparable pairs | 50% |
Matched by the nightly worker on class wins, buyer history, delivery geography, scale and notice text; relevance is a 0–100% heuristic score, not a probability of bidding. “Their award vs estimate” is that supplier’s median on its own comparable single-supplier wins. Nobody here is known to be bidding.
Coverage and what to read with care
- Each tile explains itself. The on a figure says what it is, how it is counted and which scope this notice’s own record came from (class, division, all categories, or the authority’s 24-month row). The two columns are never blended and nothing is filled from a UK-wide figure; an empty tile means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
- Coverage. Roughly 40 % of notices publish a bid count; about half publish an ITL1 delivery location, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice has none (labelled). About 30 % of award-vs-estimate pairs are exact matches — the buyer published the award at the estimate. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden.
- “Match” and “relevance” are model scores from the nightly matcher, not published facts. Find a Tender does not publish who is bidding. Never shown: contact details, payment behaviour, or a recommended price.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Goods
- Notice status
- Open for tender
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 25 Sept 2026, 09:15 BST
- Last source update
- 25 Sept 2026, 09:15 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end — 24 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Authority reference
OPEN20261396- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-069b6cFind a Tender
How to participate & submission route
Official notice- Expression of interest (EOI)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 29 Oct 2026, 10:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 23 Oct 2026, 10:00 BST
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
7 published dates · Europe/London- Planning notice published130 days ago18 May 2026, 18:46 BST
- Market engagement115 days ago1 Jun 2026, 23:59 BSTThis notice forms part of our preliminary market engagement, offering you the opportunity to share feedback and comments before the opportunity is released for formal tender submissions. Interested providers can access the written response questions, free of charge, by registering on the Open Portal at www.open-uk.org ↗
- Tender notice publishedearlier today25 Sept 2026, 09:15 BST
- Clarification questions byin 28 days23 Oct 2026, 10:00 BST
- Submission deadlinein 34 days29 Oct 2026, 10:00 GMT
- Award decision expected byin 61 days24 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 188 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
6 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 18 May 2026- Tender notice published25 Sept 2026, 09:15 BSTUK4
- Published value updated to £1,250,00025 Sept 2026, 09:15 BSTwas £1,200,000
- Status changed to active25 Sept 2026, 09:15 BST
- Procurement method changed25 Sept 2026, 09:15 BST
- Deadline published: 29 Oct 2026, 10:00 GMT25 Sept 2026, 09:15 BST
- Preliminary market engagement notice published18 May 2026, 18:46 BSTUK2
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Conflict of interest declarationNot published
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender